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Chakat Pronouns
In every Chakat story, the author almost always feels the need to explain why Chakat pronouns are used in his or her story, even though we have heard it all before, and it's not going to get people to buy their book any faster. They may be on a website containing hundreds of such stories, yet they seem compelled to continue beating a dead horse and telling us how the pronouns work anyway. The author likes to emphasize that Chakats get offended if you call them "it," however, if you think about it, that's exactly what they are. A Chakat in female phase looks identical to a Chakat in male phase. Only their hormones are different. Temporarily. To be perfectly honest, even if they don't use the word "it," they should use some other term that describes a creature that is simultaneously male and female. A gay male is still a man, even if they prefer men to women, so it doesn't make sense to call a Chakat something else just because it prefers Chakats in a different mode. The Pronouns: *"Shye" or "shi" or "shyie" is what you're supposed to call a Chakat who is in a female cycle. This is ironic because the author never remembers this when they go into male cycle, and they're the same character, and still a hermaphrodite, no matter what you call them. *"Hym" or "hye" is what you are supposed to call a Chakat in male phase, even though they are technically a "shi" or "shyea" (whatever) when they turn female. Does the author think about this? Not really. *In the category of embarrassingly bad, a Chakat in the military is supposed to be called "Shyr" or "Shir" or possibly "Sheer." I can't figure out how someone could take that seriously. Usage of these terms is always ridiculous, and serves only to cause spell checkers to scream in agony. In "The Colony" by V. Ducain (www.furry.org.au/chakat/Stories/TheColony-index.html), the characters immediately adopt these pronouns, even though they have absolutely no reason to do so other than aesthetic preference. If someone didn't believe they would be stuck as a Chakat forever, they'd insist upon being called "he" and "him," even if they had breasts. "Dammit! My name is John Wilson, and I'm a man and I refuse to be called differently! I am going to get out of here and they're going to change me back! I am a HE!" Whatever happened to not accepting the unfair situations life throws at you? And then there's The Colony: Taurger's Bad Day, that has this bit: "Yeah, chakats are herms. Be pretty easy to call them "she" or "her" or "miss", but you're supposed to say "shi" (shay) and "hir" (herr) and "Shir" (cher)." He took a breath and looked at the speaker. Shi had a black coat with white legs and tail and a white belly that came all the way up to cover hir muzzle and surround hir eyes making hir remind him of a vampire in a cape, and shi had an expression he'd seen all too often from office workers who were getting things explained to them by a "lowly tech". But he tried anyway. "We're chakats now. Chakats are herms -- hermaphrodites -- both male and female. We're not 'hes' and 'shes', we're 'shis'. And 'hir' instead of 'him' or 'her', and 'shir' -- 'cher' -- instead of 'sir' or 'maam' or 'mister' or anything else." *. . .and here I'm still thinking of myself as male,* he berated himself. Rarely is this cliche contradicted. But in Sandwalker's choice, it seems there is an option to call them "she" and "her": "Nice to meet two such lovely lad...er...." Leon trailed off, not quite sure how to group the two additions to our table collectively. "Ladies will do fine," I said, giving Leon some help. "She's female – " I pointed to Kerisa, " – and we chakats always look outwardly female, so it's just easier to refer to us as ladies. We don't mind, really." '' -Sandwalker's Choice by Chakat Sandwalker (www.furry.org.au/chakat/Stories/SandwalkersChoice-01.htm) Many authors tend to beat the reader over the head with it: ''"Might do better with parchment," Taurger said, for once too preoccupied to correct the use of a gendered pronoun."''And ''May nodded. "She seems to have taken a real liking to being a chakat. Especially to being hermaphrodite."Taurger groaned and slid forward from Pat’s arms. He dropped his face into his hands and propped his head up with his elbows, once again not correcting May’s pronouns. And May couldn’t keep from smiling. "Don’t worry about it," shi said. "There are a couple others who have chased her off, too. Just growl at her if she gets too close again." "Shi." "What?" Pat grinned. "Shi’s a stickler on the new pronouns. Hang around hir long enough and shi’ll drill them into your head."''And ''"I’d been keeping Doctor DiVargin’s records organized," Rodney said. "He’s already told me I’ll have to handle any documents here." "Shi," Taurger said, as May and Pat exchanged looks. "What? Oh," Rodney shrugged. "I suppose. Kind of a silly word, if you ask me." "You got something better?" Taurger asked. "She." "You feel female?" "Ah..." Rodney said, squirming slightly. "Guess not." -Taurger's Tale (www.furry.org.au/chakat/Stories/Taurger.htm)